Towns - Ever wanted to be the mayor of tristram?

[hexagonalbolts]

I gave it a quick run, my immediate thought was that a lot of work has gone into the graphics which is excellent, so much clearer than DF - however the menu system and objectives screen looks like it's in serious danger of falling in the same trap as DF (Also, green writing on a black background?).

I tried the tutorial but couldn't work out how to build a carpentry?

*edit* ah, apologies, I didn't see the tutorial videos, it might be a good idea to give a direct link to them on the download page, as mentioned already, a wiki seems to be extremely helpful with these sort of games (terraria, minecraft, dwarf fortress).

[alexpoysky]

We are currently working on the GUI for the next version. Improved visual cues, buttons, tooltips, radial interface. You will be quite pleased!

[torgen]

I thought I posted this earlier, but it's nowhere to be found. I was playing .35, and had figured out how to build a bridge yet (thought it had to be anchored on the shore somehow.) so, I decided to tunnel under the river to get to the only source of iron. I dug down into a spider cave, and was digging towards the river when I hit an unexpected water source. I drowned my villager, and all the spiders.

Later, I dug deeper in another place, and all the dungeons had been flooded, and all the monsters drowned. The map of those levels showed all the rooms and hallways filled with water, and I killed a couple villagers trying to tunnel between rooms (once again hit water where none was on the map. Silly of me to expect "underground radar" maps I suppose.)

So, it seems that somehow there were connections between the spider caves, and all the deeper dungeon levels that I did not make. I don't know if those were supposed to be there or not, but decided I'd share the story. :)

[Zyrden]

I actually did that on purpose in version .35 Having lost most of my villagers, I was ready to quit, but wanted revenge. So I dug a trench and a hole to the spider cave drowning all of them. The villager doing the final digging part died as well though. The I got messages saying 3 of my guys died at once, puzzled I checked the level below the spiders, and it was being flooded fast. Just as the above post, I had not dug any hole between the levels, I hadn't even been to the spider cave in fact. Certainly caught me by surprise. If the lower levels are connected in the same way, I guess I just killed every single monster.

[Tom OBedlam]

Been having a play with 0.35. Very nice guys, looking forward to more!

[alexpoysky]

0.37 is about to come out with a revamped gui and all new building schematics. Hope you all like it!

[burningpet]

Hey, we have made some progress regarding the ui, which you can see here:


and here you can see a video of alex showcasing the ui as well as hinting about some of features the that will be in the near future:
http://www.townsgame.com/index.php?o...&id=1&Itemid=7

[burningpet]

Hey guys, i am proud to announce that we have just released 0.37 that is also available on desura. you can download a 20 days ingame demo (replayable) to see if the clicks with you.

[Vexing Vision]

The new UI is actually looking pretty nice and makes me inch closer to a purchase. :)

(First of all, though, I'll wait if you're by any chance part of the upcoming Big Alpha Bundle. One never knows.)

[Kaira-]

Saw that the game got to Desura, AND had a Linux-build, AND I got my tax refunds today, so I thought, what the heck, it's only 10€. I'll see later how this works though, but let's say I'm intrigued.

[burningpet]

The new UI is actually looking pretty nice and makes me inch closer to a purchase. :)

(First of all, though, I'll wait if you're by any chance part of the upcoming Big Alpha Bundle. One never knows.)

We are not, the games in the alpha bundle were decided before we even launched our first version on indiedb.

For the time being, we will not be in any of the indie royale bundles.

[Vexing Vision]

We are not, the games in the alpha bundle were decided before we even launched our first version on indiedb.

For the time being, we will not be in any of the indie royale bundles.

Fair enough. If I have enough moneys to dispose of after Christmas, I will certainly put something in. Even if I'll refuse to play the game before it's a lot more finished - taverns and heroes sound like way too much fun to spoil the game for without.

[alexpoysky]

Well, we released on Desura this morning. 0.37 has it's own demo now, and we will try and get 0.40 out before the year ends. No promises though!

[sokkur]

Looking forward to this game. Smoehow reminds me of the game Dungeons(I have always wondered what the heroes do on the surface).

[Yippo]

It looks interesting, up to a point.


The concept is strong, certainly interesting from my point of view.

The demo is less interesting. Don't get me wrong, there are some enjoyable aspects to it; it feels aimless however. All the gameplay requires site-based tutorials to understand, and these aren't particularly in-depth. For example, the tutorial shows how to build a carpentry. It doesn't really go into why this is necessary or what it makes available.

It's an early release, however, and it's unfair to be really critical. Obviously it's far from complete. What is there looks good, but personally I'd suggest that if you're going to be releasing demos and tasters and such, you'd do well to try to include a full range of user tools - i.e. pop-up boxes to explain items and such, a short and simple explanation screen as to what the game is and what you're trying to do, etc. - from an early point.
This will allow you to let your demo-players see exactly what there currently is - some or much of which may be missed, simply because there's nothing there to tell them it's there - and add to it as you go.


I'm sure this makes development take longer, but it also increases interest in your product I believe.



Anyway, enough of the actual implementation. I should mention that I do really love the concept - it touches on games like Dungeon Keeper, which was always a big favorite of mine. In fact, the simple ability to mark out rooms to mine out under the ground, and watching your peasants go in and mine it out, reminded me greatly of DK.

Keep adding to your core concept and it could do very well.


P.S. As a suggestion, just something to add to the 'maybe at some point' pile... perhaps basic personalities for your heroes? It would be very cool if you had several groups of heroes coming and going at once on their quests, some of which hated each other, perhaps leading to conflicts between the groups. And this could even lead to things like criminal gangs, anti-heroes etc., the posting of bounties to capture or kill troublemakers, and so on.


Keep up the good work. Things are looking good so far, considering how early into production you are.

[burningpet]

Thanks, yeah, we are still very early, and i sadly must say that in game tips and helpers are not something we take effort into right now as things keep changing. they will be in at later stage though, this i promise.

As for the suggestion, it will be. and sooner rather than later. every citizen and hero will have a range of traits and skills, and some will not be something the player will like too much. we want to reproduce an AI hero who behave like i do when i play morrowind - break into houses and steal, barter everyone, pickpocket, sometimes even kill innocent civilians if they annoy me.

We have just released version 0.38 which bring few things to the table, the main one is the automatic production panel where you can keep track of your productions task and assign them to be automated so you can venture deep without having to worry about food supply, for example. that is only if you planned and built an efficient food chain.

Few other additions are new range of weapons, bone made items and a new dungeon wall.







Also, we are now available through GamersGate on: http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-TOWNS/towns-alpha

Please continue to provide feedback and critisicm, we are always looking to improve!

[alexpoysky]

Towns version 0.39 is about ready to come out. It brings a whole bunch of new changes, new items, buildings, and tweaks to make dungeon running a lot more enjoyable!

www.townsgame.com

[alexpoysky]

Version 0.39


- Add: Autoequip!
- Add: Content!
- Add: Containers!
- Add: Possibility to expand zones (avoiding the boring squared zones)
- Add: Stock number on the APS
- Add: Different maps
- Add: Habitat for living entities
- Add: Value, fill percentage and eat time for every food item
- Add: Citizens can now pick and use living entities (i.e. a pig)
- Add: Buildings with living prerequisites and descriptions
- Add: Action queues now can create new friendlies
- Change: Siege message (informing that the game has been paused)
- Change: Citizens won't run to the hospital if they are fighting
- Change: Doors don't have a roof assigned (so you can make a wooden building with a bone door and the roof will appear)
- Change: Removed the hardcoded "type=military" from military items
- Fix: APS now checks for carrying items to control the stock
- Fix: APS now doesn't take into consideration locked items (so walls, trees and so on can be placed there)
- Fix: APS doesn't put all tasks at the same time on the task queue (performance improvement)
- Fix: Synchronization crash
- Fix: Building issue with citizens on different areas (IE. citizens on both sides of the river and no path between them)
- Fix: Stuck friendlies over a hole with a ladder
- Fix: Minor fixes and improvements


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[celt]

Please keep updating us here. I find the game to be very promising and I'm paying attention to each thing you say about it. For me it looks like it's going to satisfy an itch that Dwarf Fortress created but couldn't satisfy because I'm probably too stubborn about UI and graphics issues.

So keep up the good work and don't think no one is paying attention. I mostly lurk. =)

[Smashbox]

I second that. Great progress, very promising game